Afrihost New Network Feedback - Part 2

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AfriMan said:
OMG, what did I say?!?!?!?!?!

Yes, you are 100% right, packages below R299 will continue to get After Hours data from midnight to 8am.

Sorry about the confusion. Please PM me if I am not being clear enough so I can make sure I answer clearly.
Click to expand...

It's ok, I do not envy you today...would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to observe the groaning reactions amongst the "front line" when the changes were internally announced ;)

To clarify the 12- 8am free time will apply to shaped accounts under R299
12 - 6pm to free time for those R299 and above accounts.
 
Dan C said:
Seems a lot of people here don't get it.

1) Double data was a promo and was ending December 31.
2) If you want to carry on with double data, you can opt for a shaped capped account.
3) If you do change your account you will have normal allocation and unshaped.

Simple. Sounds reasonable to me.
Click to expand...

Not so simple Dan, many many people did not notice.

I know many people who went to the Afrihost page and opted for a 100GB account (or any other nomination but this one I know first hand) expecting to be allocated 200GB (100+100) only to be allocated 50+50.

So it was sold, at a price, as a 100GB account with small print to say you only really bought a 50GB account.

Now they are calling in the chits and as you point out it was only ever a 50GB account and they should have read the hidden web page/small print/ ignored the marketing etc. But from that client's perspective the goal posts have moved.

If they had said, sorry guys Double Data ends on the 31st of December they would have moaned and moved on. But to now say your Dubble Data is permanent but your account is now shaped unless you pay us double - that is Bait and Switch.

Marketing hype spun out of control at Afrihost and all the good will is rapidly becoming sour grapes and will soon result in a poisoned chalice.

Don't emulate the Cell phone companies with complex bundles and special offers that actually blow up in the customers face.

Give us simple honest understandable packages, proper service and a reliable connection, free data is not worth what we pay for it honesty and consistency is.
 
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AfriMan said:
I totally understand. We haven't changed specifications - ultimately the premium capped product is remaining the same but does not offer promotional double data.

Double Data was not made permanent, it was extended until December (this month).
Click to expand...
Oops, I completely missed the December part. :o

Are you allowed to say why the default option is to migrate customers to shaped Capped accounts?
With the Double data promotion ending should it not be Priority Boosted Capped accounts?

Ps. Are Afrihost in a position to honor bandwidth requirements if all capped users elect to go with Priority Boosted Capped accounts?
 
AfriMan,

Option 1: Multimedia (Double Data)
Cost: R299
Data: 300GB
Free Data: Midnight-6PM
Shaping: Possibly Shaped
Question: Is shaping possible at any time?

Option 2: Multimedia (Boosted)
Cost: R299
Package: 150GB
Free Data: Midnight-6PM
Shaping: Unshaped
Question: Is this always unshaped? EVEN during free time?

PS: I'm really pissed off at how complicated this has become:

  • Capped/Uncapped
  • Shaped/Unshaped
  • After-Hours/Free-Time
  • Double-Data/Boosted
  • Afrihost-Plus

This cluster**** is worse than trying to figure out a cellphone contract.
 
A Non Blonde said:
It's ok, I do not envy you today...would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to observe the groaning reactions amongst the "front line" when the changes were internally announced ;)

To clarify the 12- 8am free time will apply to shaped accounts under R299
12 - 6pm to free time for those R299 and above accounts.
Click to expand...

It was a little hard to get our heads around, but once everyone was on the same page, most of us feel like were doing the right thing to satisfy as many of our clients as we can :)
 
mister said:
AfriMan,

Option 1: Multimedia (Double Data)
Cost: R299
Data: 300GB
Free Data: Midnight-6PM
Shaping: Possibly Shaped
Question: Is shaping possible at any time?

Option 2: Multimedia (Boosted)
Cost: R299
Package: 150GB
Free Data: Midnight-6PM
Shaping: Unshaped
Question: Is this always unshaped? EVEN during free time?

PS: I'm really pissed off at how complicated this has become:

  • Capped/Uncapped
  • Shaped/Unshaped
  • After-Hours/Free-Time
  • Double-Data/Boosted
  • Afrihost-Plus

This cluster**** is worse than trying to figure out a cellphone contract.
Click to expand...

Priority-Boosted is the highest priority on our network and will always perform at premium levels.

I get that it's a little difficult to change how we understand Capped, but it's pretty straightforward when you get your head around it.
 
LaraC said:
Oops, I completely missed the December part. :o

Are you allowed to say why the default option is to migrate customers to shaped Capped accounts?
With the Double data promotion ending should it not be Priority Boosted Capped accounts?

Ps. Are Afrihost in a position to honor bandwidth requirements if all capped users elect to go with Priority Boosted Capped accounts?
Click to expand...

We felt that the majority of clients would probably prefer to keep their Double Data, so we wanted to make sure that clients who did not make a choice would be on the product most likely to be preferable. Hopefully those who would prefer the other option will make their choice in ClientZone or by clicking on the mailer :)
 
Poor move Afrihost even though you already moved the free time data up to R299 package but now to pay more for an unshaped experience. So now instead of receiving 200gb unshaped for R199 you will have to pay R399pm.
 
caroper said:
Not so simple Dan, many many people did not notice.

I know many people who went to the Afrihost page and opted for a 100GB account (or any other nomination but this one I know first hand) expecting to be allocated 200GB (100+100) only to be allocated 50+50.

So it was sold, at a price, as a 100GB account with small print to say you only really bought a 50GB account.

Now they are calling in the chits and as you point out it was only ever a 50GB account and they should have read the hidden web page/small print/ ignored the marketing etc. But from that client's perspective the goal posts have moved.

If they had said, sorry guys Double Data ends on the 31st of December they would have moaned and moved on. But to now say your Dubble Data is permanent but your account is now shaped unless you pay us double - that is Bait and Switch.

Marketing hype spun out of control at Afrihost and all the good will is rapidly becoming sour grapes and will soon result in a poisoned chalice.

Don't emulate the Cell phone companies with complex bundles and special offers that actually blow up in the customers face.

Give us simple honest understandable packages, proper service and a reliable connection, free data is not worth what we pay for it honesty and consistency is.
Click to expand...

The products were definitely marked XGB+XGB to clearly denote the paid and free data on this promotion. We have been doing this for years when we've run this promotion. It's really silly to imply that this was in any way deceptive or misleading. This was printed all over the page, in as many places as we could think to put it. Not to mention the many emails from Gian on the subject.

Flowery metaphors aside, we're giving clients two options: Lock in Double Data by opting for a (potentially) Shaped product and return to your base package (i.e. discontinuing the promotional free data) and enjoy the same premium capped experience.
 
AfriMan said:
I totally agree. Just one small correction, all clients will be moved to the shaped option by default and will need to opt-in (from the mailer or ClientZone) to the Priority-Boosted product. That way, if clients don't make a choice, they'll be on the shaped option by default.
Click to expand...

Oops I worded it incorrectly. I will probably go for unshaped as I never even use all my allocation (never mind free time) :)
 
AfriMan said:
We felt that the majority of clients would probably prefer to keep their Double Data, so we wanted to make sure that clients who did not make a choice would be on the product most likely to be preferable. Hopefully those who would prefer the other option will make their choice in ClientZone or by clicking on the mailer :)
Click to expand...
Thank you. For the time being I'll trust you to have made the right choice for me. :)
 
BRANDON69 said:
Poor move Afrihost even though you already moved the free time data up to R299 package but now to pay more for an unshaped experience. So now instead of receiving 200gb unshaped for R199 you will have to pay R399pm.
Click to expand...

Gian was pretty clear when he said that Free-Time didn't work out the way we expected. We had hoped for a lot more signups so that we could justify the cost of Free-Time. However, it just didn't work out that way but we wanted to still keep it going for as many clients as we could.

Our Double Data was a promotion, and it was the data you paid for plus free data added on. If you opt for Priority-Boosted, you are simply not getting the free data :(
 
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